Welcome to the Blog + Review Tour for Squire of Truth by Jill Williamson, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
About the Book
Title: Squire of Truth
Series: Blood of Kings: Legends #1
Author: Jill Williamson
Publisher: Sunrise Publishing
Release Date: January 7, 2025
Genre: Medieval Fantasy
Cole Tanniyn, squire to the soon-to-be king, has journeyed far from his days as a stray stable boy in a distant mountain village. Haunted by the echoes of past failures on the battlefield, he seeks solace in music, hoping to find belonging among fellow musicians. His quest leads him to Mistel Wepp, a spirited songstress determined to forge her own path on stage.
For too long, Mistel has been bound by a past of confinement and control. Now on her own, she toils tirelessly to make her mark, but the struggle to earn a living in a world that fails to appreciate her talents proves exhausting. When she connects Cole with the future king and discovers he's a skilled lutist, she sees an opportunity to change her future.
When a heinous crime leaves Mistel’s roommate dead, she turns to Cole for help. Despite his inexperience as an investigator, Cole vows to uncover the truth. Together, they delve into the dark alleys of Armonguard, uncovering a sinister web of secrets and sorcery that threatens the kingdom. As their journey unfolds, their shared love of music catches the attention of the king, who commissions them to compose a song for his upcoming wedding, offering a glimpse of normalcy amid adversity. Can Cole and Mistel prevail against enemies wielding dark magic? Or will they become the next casualties in a deadly game of power?
Blood of Kings: Legends
Book 1: Squire of Truth
Book 2: Lord of Winter
Book 3: Lady of Shadows
Book:4: Heir of Light
PURCHASE LINKS: Goodreads | Sunrise Publishing | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookBub
More Books in This Series
Excerpt
Cole needed it. Had missed it desperately in his positions as stableboy then squire to the Crown Prince. Now that he owned his own lute, he could make music again. Maybe even find others to play with. A place he might finally belong.
He threaded his way through the crowd in the wharf green just outside the walls of Castle Armonguard. The island marketplace ran through the grassy area between the western and eastern castle piers and followed along the scalloped whitestone half wall that overlooked the northern shore of Lake Arman.
The majority of the vendors and shoppers came from the Crescent by ferry, though Cole and anyone from the castle reached the wharf green by taking one of two long staircases down the scalloped walls from the eastern or western castle gates.
Cole glanced out at the glassy water, so still compared to the raucous waterfall back home in Mitspah.
But no. Mitspah hadn’t been Cole’s home ever since the king-to-be had plucked him from that prison and given him a new life.
About the Author
Jill Williamson writes fantasy and science fiction for teens and adults. She grew up in Alaska, staying up and reading by the summer daylight that wouldn't go away. This led to a love of books and writing, and her debut novel, By Darkness Hid, won several awards and was named a Best Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror novel of 2009 by VOYA magazine. She loves giving writing workshops and blogs for teen writers at www.GoTeenWriters.com, which has been named as one of Writer’s Digest’s “101 Best Websites for Writers.” She now lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and two children.
Connect with Jill by visiting jillwilliamson.com to follow her on social media or subscribe to email newsletter updates.
Author Interview
Jill: As part of the Blood of Kings: Legends series, I was contracted to write a novella to introduce the series. Susan May Warren wanted the story to be one that would set up the storyworld and include characters that could make cameo appearances in the other books in the series that my authors would be writing. As I thought about that, it seemed to me that it would be fun to write about some traveling minstrels who would be going from place to place.
When we were brainstorming the series together, Susan wanted me to choose one of my side characters from the original series to use as a main character. She picked out Cole from the list and asked if he might work. When I originally wrote Cole, I thought he was about fourteen years old. I describe him that way, but I never actually said his age. As I thought about Susan’s suggestion to write about him, I thought it might be funny if Cole was really nineteen years old but was just short. That way, my prince character, who took Cole under his wing, would find out later that Cole was really older than him. This amused me and stuck, and that’s what inspired me to write about Cole. After that, I knew I wanted to find a way to make Cole into a traveling minstrel, so I wrote a story that would enable Cole to prove himself worthy of being sent on away missions. So that’s where the idea of a murder mystery came from.
Q: How long did it take to write this book?
Jill: I wrote the first draft of Squire of Truth in about three months. Keep in mind, it was only supposed to be a novella. The story ended up more complex than I’d originally planned and came in about 70 pages longer than I originally intended. So it ended up being a short novel.
Q: What surprised you while researching/writing this novel?
Jill: Well, since I was planning to write a fantasy murder mystery story, I needed to find a unique way for someone to have been killed during the medieval era of history. I also needed an assassination attempt in the story. And I really wanted something mysterious. I started researching historical assassination attempts, and they were either stabbings by a knife or sword, getting shot by a bow, getting hit with a rock or some other hard object, or getting poisoned. I felt like I was playing a game of medieval Clue.
And then I landed on the story of John of Nottingham, a 14th-century magician, who was said to have plotted to kill Edward II of England in 1324 through witchcraft. John attempted something called effigy magic, which as I read about it, felt very like the idea of killing someone via a Voo Doo doll. This surprised me because I thought effigies were the life-sized stone carvings of a person’s likeness that lay atop their coffin in a tomb. And while that is true, I learned in my research that the practice of using smaller physical likenesses of a person or animal for ritual magic dated back to ancient Greek, Egyptian, and Mesopotamian cultures. This felt like the perfect type of villainous magic for a medieval fantasy novel and allowed for a far more interesting Agatha Christie type investigation for my character Cole to try and solve.
Q: Do you have a favorite quote from Squire of Truth?
Jill: This is one of my favorites:
The sooner Cole solved Edera Duwal’s murder, the sooner he could go back to his task of befriending some musicians to play with, and at the top of his list was a ginger-haired songstress who could write songs off the top of her head, just like him.
With a voice enchanting, beyond his ken,
That captivates both beasts and men.
Q: When did you first know you wanted to be an author?
Jill: I wanted to speak to teens. I discovered that sometimes, people hire speakers based on articles written by the speaker. So I looked into writing articles. When a new Harry Potter book came out, a barrage of debates within the church community flared up as to whether or not the books were safe for Christians to read. The debate inspired me to write a teen novel that all Christians would love. Oh man! I was completely naive. I have since learned that no one likes every book. But that’s how I got started. I was inspired to create an exciting adventurous series for teens that was written from a Christian worldview.
When a writer’s conference came to town, I signed up right away. I couldn’t believe how much I had to learn. When I got home, I did everything that the conference speakers had recommended. Being teachable has really helped me, I think.
Q: Would you share something about yourself that most readers wouldn’t know?
Jill: I once started my own wedding gown business called Lugano. My first dream in life was to be a fashion designer. Once I became fed up working in the industry, and before I started writing, I designed a line of nine better wedding gowns and went to the Chicago Bridal Market as a vendor. It was a tremendous amount of work, especially considering I hate to sew.
Q: What are you currently reading?
Jill: I am currently reading Rocky Road by Becky Wade. It’s a Christian romance novel. Super cute.
Q: What is your favorite genre to read?
Jill: I love so many genres, but when I want to read something just for fun and to relax, I almost always choose a Regency romance novel. Julie Klassen is one of my favorites.
Q: What is your favorite hobby?
Jill: Writing has been my favorite hobby for the past twenty years, but recently, my husband and I have been learning to make films. We made a 20-minute short film last year, and now we are working on developing our first feature film. We hope to start fundraising for it this summer.
Q: What is your favorite season and why?
Jill: Christmas is my absolute favorite time of year. I love everything about it. I love that it is when we celebrate God sending his son to earth to save us. I love the decorations, the hymns, the Christmas movies and animated specials.
Now that I teach fifth grade full time, though, I’m becoming very partial to summer break, since that’s when I get two months off! Haha!
Tour Giveaway
(1) winner will receive a print copy of Squire of Truth & a $10 Gift Card to the Sunrise Shop!
Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight January 13, 2025 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on January 20, 2025. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.
Giveaway is subject to JustRead Publicity Tours Giveaway Policies.
Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!
